I know of some camera's that cost a hand and a foot LOL
That depends are you looking for a good point and shoot camera or an SLR?
Photography is a hobby of mine. I started out with a FUJI Finepix S1000. It is a 10.0MP point and shoot with a 12x Optical Zoom (33mm-396mm equivalent) , 5.7 X Digital Zoom. You should be able to pick one up for under $200.00. It takes great photos for a point and shoot and is easy to use. You can buy better lens for it and upgrade it some if you wish at a latter point and time. I updated to a SLR now but still have my FUJI to carry with me in the car for spur of the moment photos. Here are some pictures that I took with the FUJI.
I'm a semi-pro in the photography world... I have both a Digital SLR and a point and shoot. I've used several brands of the point and shoot variety and you'll never go wrong with Canon.As far as battery life on my SD750, I shoot about 150 pics a month on it and recharge the battery about once every two to three months. You just have to go into the menus and make sure the preview time is set to 2 - 3 seconds, you have the auto-standby/off settings set to about 30 - 60 seconds of inactivity, and download the pics to a computer for viewing rather than keep looking at them on the camera.Check out various sources... Consumer Reports, CNET, etc. Canon always has 1 or 2 Point and Shoots in the top 5 of each category.